Patsington has bought a pair of Docs. Docs! I'm totally jealous. Even the sight of them (those translucent soles!) made me all nostalgic for an age (the very early '90s) when literally every single person I know would not have worn any other shoe (unless they were wearing runners, in which case only Converse All Stars would do), and everyone bought their Docs from a woman called Peggy who ran a shoe stall at the back of the Ilac Centre. Maybe it's just seeing lots of people wearing leggings under frocks (another look popular with my pals in the late '80s/early '90s) but I must confess to having been craving the fashions of that era recently. A few things recently have made me wonder if any of my old pairs of Docs are knocking about my parents' house (not least seeing James McAvoy on the poster for the '80s-set Starter for Ten, clad in a suitably authentic pair). They were rock! They were comfy! They were actually more flattering to the shorter lady than many modern-day flat boots! I always hated biker boots because they looked like wellies, but a good pair of tightly laced Docs and a pair of black tights and a little frock were perfect for creating the indie-rock-Victorian-urchin look which I greatly prized at the time.

Actually, Patsington and I are both rocking the look of our early-to-mid teens today. Not only is Patsington decked out in Doctor Marten's finest, but I am wearing a large claret-coloured men's lambswool jumper. I love this jumper, which someone gave to Patsington a few years ago and which, being a M&S men's size medium, was too small for him, although as it is large and baggy I never wear it in public (although I did wear it out for a delightfully bracing walk in the park this afternoon). Back in 1990, however, I would not only have worn it in public, I would have worn it with leggings and a pair of Docs. In fact, I was seldom seen in the winter months without a large old-man's lambswool jumper or cardigan.

The thing is, though, is that baggy clothes are not very flattering. Take t-shirts. The only reason I wore a lot of large band t-shirts back then was because you actually couldn't get band t-shirts in smaller sizes until the mid-90s when, to my joy, the skinny ringer t-shirt became available (I still have my Elastica 'Vaseline' t-shirt, bought at a gig in the Tivoli in '95). If you are 5'2" and a UK/Ireland size 8-10, you are apt to look preposterously swamped by larger garments. Back then I was nearer a size 6, which simply weren't available in high street shops, so lots of my clothes were slightly too big anyway. I may look back fondly at my teenage wardrobe, but I looked pretty ridiculous quite a lot of the time.

And yet...I can't help feeling, for the first time in nearly 15 years, that there's something kind of cool about a pair of scuffed, battered 10 hole Docs. Someone stop me...

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I got my first pair when I spent Christmas with relatives in England in 1989 (from Carnaby Street - I felt terribly cool), and I haven't stopped wearing them since. Not the same pair, though, since Canadian winters can be very hard on them.

I remember feeling very ahead of the times, wearing them in grade 11, because the boots didn't become the complete phenomenon over here for at least another year. But yes, I wore them with leggings or long johns, and baby doll dresses. Just last night I was wanting to go back to that look!